


Too Sober

by SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher (UglyJackal)



Category: Star Stable
Genre: Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 08:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12186528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UglyJackal/pseuds/SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher
Summary: Jack can't find Z





	Too Sober

Jack didn’t often get too worried about Zelda, she was usually at his side anyway, but when he hadn’t recieved any texts or calls from her for at least a day, he felt the usual grip of anxiety broiling in his stomach that only ever occured when he was faced with an unknown situation or a crowd of people. He began to ring and text her mobile every few minutes, until, after an hour, he texted Louisa instead.

Jack: _Hey, you haven’t seen Z anywhere around, have you?_  
Louisa: _Last I saw her was when I took her off to the Sunset Islands after Justin’s arrest_  
Jack: _Shit…_  
Louisa: _???_  
Jack: _This must be to do with that… I haven’t seen her since that day_  
Louisa: _I’ll keep a lookout, but try her favourite places maybe?_  
Jack: _Will do, thanks Louisa_

The last time Z had gone awol was when Justin had first been kidnapped, all those years ago. He tapped Dale in the sides and they charged over to the little hidey-hole that Jack had finally found Z in when it had happened.

‘Z!’ Jack called, leaning down to look behind the same rock that she had been behind before, ‘Z, come on, where the fuck are you?’

She was not where Jack had thought she would be.

He checked her house and her stable, asked her horses whether they knew where she had gone, but they didn’t respond to him. 'This is my fault, isn’t it? I shouldn’t have been such a dick about Justin… bollocks!’ he growled to himself. Z’s horses just looked back at him with their judging eyes. But before Jack could go on beating himself up any further, he pulled himself together and thought about Z and how she was feeling. She’d be in a much worse mood than Jack, and now was not the time to be feeling sorry for himself.

He walked out of Z’s stable and stood by Dale’s shoulder, scratching the Lipizzaner’s neck absent-mindedly. 'What do you think I should do, boy?’ he asked.

'Perhaps Z has decided to take more traditional methods in feeling better,’ the horse replied.

'I don’t understand,’ Jack said.

'What’s that expression that you say a lot? When you’re feeling down?’ Dale clarified, 'the one about “drowning sorrows”?’

'You think that Z, who doesn’t drink, has holed herself away and is now chugging alcohol?’ he snorted.

'I’m a horse, I don’t know how you humans work.’

Jack sighed. 'I guess… it’s worth a shot,’ he said as he swung up onto Dale’s back, 'I guess when someone is upset, they tend to do the things that you least expect them to.’

There was only one pub in all of Jorvik, and, as you would expect of this drab and peaceful little island, it was never very full. It was located in Jarlaheim in the back street where a heavy muddy fog sheltered the air. Jack left Dale in the paddock that was near one of the places where the GED worked; he was in good standing with the offices of GED and was confident that Dale wouldn’t be harmed. Now, he stood outside of The Nag’s Head and took it upon himself to peer in through the grubby window, trying to spot his friend so that he wouldn’t be going in and out without doing anything.

Unfortunately, the window was not an ally to him, and didn’t provide any visual information. Guess he’d have to go in.

Once inside, the scent of alcohol and snacks gently bumped into him. The pub was fuller than he had expected, but he wouldn’t use the word “packed”. It occured to him that he hadn’t seen Phantom anywhere at all, nor any of Z’s various horses. He tried to think back to when he was in Z’s stable and if anyone had been missing.

But then he saw a distinctive Western hat discarded on the bar, next to a hunched figure.

Jack approached and tapped the punter on the shoulder. They looked up and he smiled awkwardly.

'Hey, Z,’ he said, taking a seat next to her.

'What’re you doin’ here?’ Z said, slumping back onto the bar. She was clearly very drunk.

'I’m taking you home,’ he said, 'come on.’ And without another word, he jumped up from the seat and hauled his friend to her feet.

'No!’ she cried, 'I’m not going anywhere with you!’

Jack sighed and just tugged Z out of the pub and into some fresh air. He didn’t stop walking until they were on the road into Jarlaheim and going in the direction of the paddock where Dale was grazing.

'Let me go!’ Z shouted. Jack was thankful that no one was around to come to any wrong conclusions.

'Z, I’m not going to talk to you until we get some coffee in you,’ Jack said, 'you need to sober up before I can hold a coherent conversation with you.’

They now stood by Dale, who sighed. 'I haven’t seen any of her horses anywhere,’ he said, 'we’d best take her back to Moorland.’

'We’ll go to Ydris,’ Jack said, 'he’ll probably have some sort of potion or other that’ll sober her up.’

'I’m too sober for this!’ Z shouted, as Jack shoved her onto Dale’s back.  
Jack decided to ignore his friend and swung up onto his horse in front of her. 

They travelled all the way back to Ydris’ highland at a walk, and he had to smile when Z slumped against his back with her chin on his shoulder and started to snore.

He found out later on that Z was upset because of Justin’s imprisonment, as he had known (he would have been very surprised had she told him it was something different), and that she just wanted to forget about it for a little while. She also told Jack the next day that she didn’t recommend getting drunk at ten in the morning. They found Phantom later on by the Silversong River, looking as though he too was drowning his sorrows, though he wasn’t in any sort of state like his owner.


End file.
